


Read me

by NocturnaIV



Series: Soulmate [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, soulmark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25154638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NocturnaIV/pseuds/NocturnaIV
Summary: In front of his eyes, Jay saw a small letter written in black ink:‘4 Puppies2 Kittens1 Adult Dogs20 Large bones10 Small bones’“Jordan!” Jay screamed when he saw that words were still forming on his arm.The lamp of the young genie rested in his room that day. He waved the lamp as he saw ‘5 thick ropes’ appeared in his skin.“What?” Jordan appeared in front of him annoyed and the only thing she found was Jay's arm in front of her eyes “What is that...? Oh…” She took a step back when she saw things keep appearing “Curious shopping list.”“What 's going on?” Jay looked at his arm and then at her.“It's your soulmate, dummy.” Jordan said, “I think they are writing on their arm.”
Relationships: Jay/Carlos de Vil
Series: Soulmate [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048393
Comments: 5
Kudos: 166
Collections: Soulmates: Descendants





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first language is Spanish, but I hope you can enjoy this story. I apologize if some parts are misspelled.
> 
> Also: Has references to Aladdin (2019) and Descendants: Wicked World (just a character, Jordan, the daughter of the genie)

True love was the most powerful force that existed. Soulmates were something incredible and powerful. Most villains knew how dangerous love was and therefore kept their children away from any temptation. Others were relaxed because the soulmates of most of the descendants were most likely on the other side of the barrier. Far away. So, there was no need to worry.

But no one expected that the magic of the soulmates was more powerful than the barrier surrounding the Isle of the Lost.

Jay wasn't really concerned about all of that. His father had never warned him of true love. Because that didn’t exist. A true villain had no soulmate. Jafar hadn’t had it. Therefore, Jay would not have it either. Which meant that he could live without worry. Other villains thought like his father. Maleficent, for example, she encouraged her daughter with the same wicked speech. But not everyone followed that path. The Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil, and others locked up their descendants at the slightest sign of growth to protect them from true love and goodness that could trigger it. So, he and Mal had grown up wondering what the descendants of their parents' allies would be like. But Jay couldn't say that Mal was his friend, but more like the daughter of an important ally who shouldn't be provoked.

But when the first descendants reached adolescence, everything changed.

First, it was somehow random. Descendants wanting to jump into the shark-infested sea and try to go to Auradon. Others started having anxiety attacks because they were being aware that something, _someone,_ was missing. And then, on television, they saw that in Auradon it was the same. Descendants of heroes, princes, and warriors were demanding that the barrier be removed because their soulmates were on the Isle of the Lost. Incredibly fast, King Adam had to agree to take the descendants and get them off the island to prevent political alliances from disappearing. Or, as he had said in his speech, _for the happiness of the descendants of all Auradon._ By the power of love, or rather to keep the heirs happy in each kingdom under the control of King Adam. He agreed to bring the descendants of the villains to prevent the youth in the kingdoms from rising against him. 

However, true love was truly capable of everything.

So, Jay was free at just twelve years old. He would never forget that night where they were suddenly released from the island. In that night, Jay realized that he really wouldn't miss his father. And although Maleficent tried to convince them of a plan, she hadn’t had enough time. Even more so when the Evil Queen and Cruella de Vil fled to hide their children so that they wouldn’t be taken away. In a matter of hours, the island was emptied of minors. Jay saw how Mal struggled to stay with her mother and he wanted to help her because it wasn’t fair to force her to leave her reality. But when it was his turn, everything was different. Jay realized he was eager to get out. He could feel the pressure of the barrier for the first time, surrounding him. He didn’t want to stay on the island. So, he cooperated. Jay watched the older descendants run across the magical bridge into the arms of their soulmates who were already waiting for them in Auradon.

But Jay didn't worry about it. He was Jafar's son and had no soulmate.

Still, Jay was taken to a shelter in Auradon. Like the rest of the descendants. Although by his standards, it was a luxurious place. Comfortable beds, great food, new clothes, and any fancy you want. Instead, Mal wouldn’t talk to anyone, proud, and stubborn. Jay realized that he didn't really know Mal very well. But he believed in giving her time, as always, to calm down. But time wasn’t something they had. When people from all realms appeared intending to adopt them all, Mal was the first to accept the proposal. She didn't even look at Jay when she left. After all, they only had in common being descendants of two allied villains. In this way, Snow White adopted Mal and took her to her kingdom.

Jay was left alone.

And everything got more complicated when Harriet Hook, Captain Hook's eldest daughter refused to let the descendants of the port be sent to different kingdoms. Jay wondered if he should have acted the same way with Mal, while she recovered from being away from her mother. Maybe he should have protected her. Maybe being a villain also included taking care of his allies? No one had taught him that. But the fault was real.

“You look like someone who is not very satisfied with what is happening.”

Jay looked at the first person who spoke to him without pity in her voice. Since arriving at Auradon, everyone acted as if villain descendants were scared and wounded cubs. But this woman was different. Jay noticed her curious outfit. The combination of bright colors, the visibly soft fabric, and the style. All of that was something he grew up hearing.

“Agrabah.” Jay got up in surprise.

The woman smirked. She was incredibly beautiful. Her skin was the perfect color of desert sand, her eyes were as dark as the night, and her hair was curly and soft. But her smile was the sweetest he had ever seen. A quirky smile that made her eyes almost disappear in unimaginable sweetness.

“Are you the Sultana?”

The woman laughed. The man next to her did too. A man with dark skin and the perfect blend of strong and gentle features. Jay thought his beard made him look older, but then there were his eyes, as old as...

“Oh...” Jay sat back on his temporary bed, not taking his eyes off the couple.

His father had told him about those eyes full of ancient knowledge. Jafar had scoffed at the knowledge that a powerful being had wanted to be human.

“My name is Dalia.”

“And you can call me Gen.”

That was the way Jay was welcomed by the former maid of the present-day Sultana of Agrabah and by the ancient genie of the lamp that his father so yearn for owning and controlling. Jay learned that for a moment the Sultana Jazmine had thought to invite him as her apprentice, but Dalia had interceded. Maybe they were mere travelers, but they wanted Jay to be part of their family. He didn't know what to answer to that other than giving the man back the rings he had unconsciously stolen from him. Gen found that amusing and told him that Aladdin must have been just like him at his age. Jay also didn't know what to answer. Although he was happy that he hadn’t been acquired by the Sultana and her consort. That would have been too much for him.

Also, travel around the world sounded good. 

The day Jay prepared to set sail, he heard people in the port whisper.

‘ _They keep finding children hidden on the island._ ’

‘ _That's terrible! How can they have them like this?_ ’

‘ _I know, right? One of them seemed to sleep in a closet surrounded by bear traps._ ’

Jay listened to that conversation without really thinking about it. He was twelve years old and more concerned about his future on a ship without knowing how to swim. Especially when the rest of the descendants he knew were older and walked like birds in love and being ridiculously cheesy. As if days ago they hadn’t been educated differently! How was Jay supposed to feel in the face of so much change?

“Don't worry, you will also find your soulmate,” Dalia promised him when she noticed Jay looking at his wrist, the classic place where different soulmarks used to appear.

“Even if it takes centuries,” Gen promised with a contagious smile.

What they didn’t know is that Jay had been thinking if Agrabah still cut the hands of the thieves.

But those thoughts quickly vanished. Jay learned to love her life by sailing and getting to know the world. He met Jordan, the daughter of Gen and Dalia, who had been born as a genie, in a perpetual state of youth, as genies tended to be. Jordan was always older than him, but as the years passed, it was Jay who began to act like the older brother. And when Tulipa and Ali were born, Jay discovered that he had a strong instinct for protection. Jordan mockingly called him the _overprotective brother._ But Jay found that he liked it. Dalia's and Gen's children became his siblings. His life became a special mix of normality and magic. He got used to telling stories to Tulipa and Ali before they slept and having to tap Jordan's lamp to get her out. Dalia used to comb his hair every morning even when it wasn’t necessary, and he accompanied Gen to trade in the ports.

Jay grew up to be strong so he could carry provisions. But he, too, became charismatic and a clever trader. Also, Jay had a good eye to know when someone wanted to sell him something fake or something was wrong with the deal he intended to do.

Auradon consisted of many kingdoms and his family was always constantly moving. They spent more days in Agrabah though, where Jay got used to seeing Sultan Jazmine and her consort Aladdin as part of his curious family.

And he realized that the heroes weren’t as bad as he had imagined. Because Jay was never tested for being the son of a villain. Jay was satisfied with his life, getting to know the world, playing with Tulipa and Ali, having Jordan as his best friend, laughing at Delilah's occurrences, and being carrying away by the hundreds of stories that Gen had for them.

His home was curious, strange, and constantly moving. Everything he always dreamed of and was never admitted to was his now.

Until one day, after his seventeen years. Where he felt fingers touch his arm. Certain island habits were never lost. Like being a light sleeper. Jay opened his eyes, but no one was in front of him. And still, he could feel something slide down his arm. Jay sat down and looked at his hand. In front of his eyes, he saw a small round letter written in black ink.

‘ _4 Puppies_  
_2 Kittens_  
_1 Adult Dogs_  
_20 Large bones  
10 Small bones’_

“Jordan!” Jay screamed when he saw that words were still forming on his arm.

The lamp of the young genie rested in his room that day. He waved the lamp as he saw ‘ _5 thick ropes’_ appeared in his skin.

“What?” Jordan appeared in front of him annoyed and the only thing she found was Jay's arm in front of her eyes “What is that...? Oh…” She took a step back when she saw things keep appearing “Curious shopping list.”

“What 's going on?” Jay looked at his arm and then at her.

Jordan started to laugh mockingly. What made him calm down. Because if it was something to laugh at him, then it wasn't the end of the world, right? Jay sat on his bed, watching as the list kept growing with strange things.

“It's your soulmate, dummy.” Jordan jumped onto his bed “I think they are writing on their arm.”

Jay looked at her blankly and denied.

“I assure you it’s your soulmate.” Jordan stopped smiling mockingly “You know, this is your soulmark.”

"Villains don’t have soulmates," Jay repeated the words automatically.

And Jordan hit him hard on the forehead.

“You’re not a villain.” She said with incredible seriousness, “I have the power of the universe in my hands. Trust me, I would never let a villain be close to my family.” She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him so fast to her face that he freaked out.

Jordan looked like her mother, but her hair was purple with black, and her eyes were cold. Jay deduced they were inherited from her magical side. But all the years he had known Jordan, he could assure that she was cheerful and fun. Indifferent and with a sense of morality worthy of a being that existed beyond human life. But with a good heart. And yet, at that moment, Jay remembered that he was dealing with one of the most powerful beings in the world.

“Never, listen to me well, I would _never_ call a villain a family, do you understand?” Jordan threatened.

He nodded raising his arms in surrender. She released him, returning to her lively, old-fashioned attitude.

“Well, with that clear.” She appeared a pen “Are you going to write something to them?”

“And scare them to death?” Jay denied “Besides, what if my soulmate is someone bad?” He looked at the handwriting and framed an eyebrow, “Who lists a muzzle next to bones and toys?”

“I don't know...” Jordan shrugged “Soulmarks tend to appear in your sixteen birthday...”

“And I already had it. Nothing ever appeared.” Jay defended himself "That's why I thought I just didn't-" He didn't say anything else when he saw the threat in Jordan's gaze “Well why now?”

“They just must have turned sixteen, you fool.”

Jay looked at the words on his arm.

“What am I supposed to do now?” He asked.

“Look for them?”

“How?”

Jordan waved the pen.

“You ask them where they live. This is the easiest soulmark I've ever seen.” She assured, “Most should let things happen naturally because fate likes to complicate things. But here you are, with the universe alienated so you can find out where your soulmate is and beg me to make you appear there.”

“I think... I need time to process it.” Jay confessed.

“Process true love? Are you crazy? You have seen how people try to get my lamp to make me unite them with their soulmate before time. But you-?” Jordan didn’t insist upon noticing the seriousness in Jay's expression “Fine if you insist.”

Jordan went back to her lamp, giving him privacy. He returned to his bed and leaned back looking at the ceiling of his cabin. For the first time, the movement of the sea didn’t calm him. He didn't want to see his arm, even though he felt something else was being written. Jay had managed to have a good life and was enjoying it to the fullest. He was still young enough to have a soulmate. Jay was enjoying his unique life, travel around the world, meeting people in every port, with no ties.

For the first time since leaving the Isle of the Lost, Jay felt the urge to run and escape again.


	2. Chapter 2

The news about his soulmark wasn’t long in reaching his entire family. Because his soulmate loved to write reminders on his arm. And therefore, at any moment, Jay would have something like ‘ _New blanket. Don’t look edible.’_ or ‘ _5 PM: Pick up the little ones_.’

Who was his soulmate? And why did they go from talking about bones to adorable things?

While the rest of the family only exchanged glances every time they saw the words appear, Dalia was frontal and approached him with the same calmness that she had whey they decided to adopt him.

“And have you talked to them yet?”

Jay denied, looking at his arm instead of at the woman. But Dalia’s hand covered his wrist.

“Why not?”

“What am I supposed to tell them? ‘ _Hello, surely you must be scared to see these letters take shape on your arm. Because that happened to me the first time. In any case, I am Jay, I grew up on the Isle of the Lost, now I’m in the main port of Auradon. Maybe I’ll have dinner with King Ben in a few hours. By the way, I’m your soulmate. Could you explain to me what you do with the animals and bones?’_ Or something like that?” _Jay_ looked at Dalia “I don’t think so...”

“How about starting with a ‘ _Hello’_?” The woman squeezed his hand “Maybe they live here, and we could meet them.”

Jay denied. He wasn’t ready. Dalia’s thumb caressed his wrist and he smiled to show her that he was fine. Dalia didn’t insist. She always looked fondly at the letter on Jay’s arm, though.

Tulipa and Ali weren’t so patient. On multiple occasions, they wrote on Jay’s arm, desperate to contact his soulmate. But fortunately, it didn’t work. Also, that was a good thing. Because they were shameless children.

“You can’t say to my soulmate, ‘Hi _, don’t cheat on Jay or he’ll be sad._ ’ First, because it’s not true. And second, they don’t know they have a soulmate.” Jay clarified.

Tulipa and Ali called him a liar. But it was true. He wasn’t even bothered by the idea of his soulmate being with other people. Jay didn’t even know who they were. So, it didn’t make sense.

On another occasion, while taking a nap, he found the children writing absolutely all his personal information on his arm, of his family, the name of their ship, and where they were at that moment. Jay had to take them to Dalia to talk to them about the danger of giving that information to complete strangers!

Tulipa and Ali called him a party pooper for it.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Jay got used to the sudden letters on his arm. Like everything in life, the constancy made it stop being something strange and intimidating to a new thing in his life. Jay had grown up on the Isle of the Lost, constantly starving, and cold. Now he traveled all over the world, he always had loving words, nosy brothers, delicious food, and clothes for every weather. Jay had feared his soulmate and was now part of his life. Now he was used to seeing ‘Chocolate _’_ constantly. So, it must be something that they liked. Sometimes his soulmate wrote down other people’s contact information. Because apparently, his soulmate didn’t know the technology or a piece of paper. But Jay never wondered who all those people were. He kept wondering what the bones were for, though. And who were the _little ones?_ Maybe his soulmate had younger siblings or nephews.

Another thing that caught his attention was ‘ _Now I am safe’_ which sometimes appeared on his skin. Jay found himself stroking the phrase, intrigued. Because it was written differently. Much firmer and bigger. Jay could hear that phrase being shouted in his head. For the first time, he wanted to take a pen and ask if he could help. But he never dared to do it. He didn’t want to be a nosy person.

It was a good morning when his soulmate wrote ‘ _Chocolate’_. Because eventually, more things would appear, like ‘Chocolate _chip cookies’_ or ‘ _Chocolate Cake?_ ’. As if it were healthier if it weren’t a complete bar. Jay could imagine his soulmate rewarding themselves with chocolate. For any nonsense.

“Why don’t you write something to them?” Gen asked him when for the fifth time on the day Jay had been distracted by looking at the same phrase written on his arm.

‘ _What do kisses taste like?’_

Jay denied. He wasn’t jealous of reading that. His soulmate was a constant in his life. But they weren’t a specific person.

“They are discovering themselves. I don’t think it’s time to get involved.” Jay confessed, “And what am I supposed to tell them?” He joked.

And for the first time, Jay refused to interact with his soulmate for the sake of them and not for his own doubts. Although that didn’t mean he didn’t want to run away. Because Jay wanted to. He was still extremely interested in taking the opposite direction if someone were to tell him that his soulmate would be there any minute. But now he was well balanced with the realization that his soulmate was just enjoying his teens. It wouldn’t be fair to steal their youth by announcing that he was his soulmate but wasn’t interested in commitments.

Jay didn’t want to lose his adolescence, his new freedom, for true love.

Luckily, Gen understood. Instead, he raised his eyebrows in amusement.

“But what would you answer if you could?”

‘ _What do kisses taste like?’_

“They taste like chocolate,” Jay responded immediately and felt his cheeks warm for it.

Gen laughed amused.

But the idea stayed there, like a seed that found fertile soil. That kiss began to take root. Possibilities. Suddenly his reaction to the name of someone appearing on his arm was no longer as indifferent. Jay found himself uncomfortable carrying the names of people who he didn’t know. What they had to do with _his_ soulmate? Especially when after a few hours of someone’s name appearing, Jay read ‘ _Chocolate’_. That could make him angry and _jealous._ Jay was frustrated. But that’s why in the past, he had thought he was lucky not to have a soulmate! Because Jay had seen what soulmates meant. Chaos, despair, and forces so big as to change Auradon’s rules if necessary.

Jay forced himself not to see his arm for days. Maybe if he didn’t pay attention to the letters, he would remember that it wasn’t anything important.

But one morning he had to wake up earlier than planned because his arm was on fire. When Jay looked, a phrase was repeated over and over.

‘ _Am I broken?_ _  
_ _Am I broken?_ _  
_ _Am I broken?_ _  
_ _Am I broken?_

_Am I broken?  
Am I broken?_

_Am I broken?_

_Am I broken?’_

And some of the letters were blurred as if drops of water had fallen on the still fresh ink. Before he knew it, Jay already had the pen that Jordan had appeared to him long ago and he was writing on his arm ‘ _Why?’_

The sentences stopped. And Jay imagined his soulmate freaking out when something suddenly appeared on their skin. Maybe it was a bad time to do it. Maybe he shouldn’t have. His soulmate was going through something and now he was making things worse. Jay wondered if writing an apology would be worse or better.

But to his surprise, a new phrase appeared.

‘ _So, there you are.’_

Jay looked at the phrase. And as always, his soulmate continued.

‘ _You are quite late.’_

He chuckled.

‘ _I’ve been here for months._ ’ Jay confessed.

‘ _And why didn’t you say anything?’_

‘ _Because I wasn’t sure how to feel about my soulmate write about bones and animals on the same list_.’

‘ _That is not fair! For your information, I help at my family’s vet.’_

That made sense. That made perfect sense! Jay felt silly to see that all the signs were there. Now the lists made absolute sense.

‘ _And the little ones?’_

‘ _Puppies._ ’

Jay nodded as if instead of looking at his arm, he was looking at the screen of a cell phone. His soulmate continued, always eloquent. Which was good because Jay wasn’t that quick to follow up on a conversation.

‘ _And you?’_

‘ _I travel all over the world. I’m a merchant._ ’

‘ _Whe_ re _are you now?’_

‘ _Camelot You know? They sell good chocolate here._ ’

‘ _You really have been reading me for a long time._ ’

Jay shrugged, still smiling.

‘ _You write a lot.’_

_‘I will take it as a compliment.’_

_‘Could it be...’_ Jay covered his face. Was he flirting? What happened to his fear of having something serious? Why was it being so easy to talk to someone who didn’t even know their name? And why was his heart beating so hard?

‘ _If you think I will forgive you with that, you are very wrong. You’ll only make me mad because you didn’t write to me before._ ’

Jay leaned his forehead against his arm, thinking the same thing. Instead of running away, he was wanting to write so many things. Was that what true love did? Because he was beginning to understand why princesses got married so quickly. Or the heroes saw a dragon and thought it was a great idea to risk their lives.

‘ _I’m glad I’m not broken. And that your handwriting is legible._ ’

Jay looked at the phrase without understanding and his soulmate seemed to feel his confusion because they continued.

‘Since _I was sixteen, I have been waiting for my soulmark. I thought I was broken when nothing happened. Or that my mother was right.’_

Jay felt guilty, terribly guilty. Out of fear, he had been torturing his soulmate. Out of cowardice, he had been hurting another person who loved chocolate and was devoted to animals. Maybe Jordan wanted to reevaluate that Jay wasn’t a villain. Because at the time he felt like one.

‘ _What did your mother say?’_

The answer didn’t come. Jay looked at his question and wondered if he had touched on a sensitive topic. Although they had said they worked in their family’s veterinary. But he stayed still, looking at his arm, wondering what his soulmate’s family would be like. Jay had believed that his soulmate had a good life because they seemed to love helping at the vet and most of the time, they wrote good things.

But after two hours in silence, he erased what he wrote on his arm.

When he did, the answer appeared.

‘ _Many things:_  
 _That I would never leave the Isle of the Lost._  
 _That she would never let me go._  
 _That no one would find me in her secret closet._  
 _That my soulmate would never look for me.’_

“Jay? You’ve been in bed a long time, my boy.” Dalia asked entering his cabin but stopped when she looked to his face, “What happened?”

Jay looked at the woman who had come looking for him at the shelter and had joined him to her family without hesitation. Jay recalled the day at the port and the conversation he overheard. _The boy in the closet._ And his mind recalled the eccentric ally of his father who hid her son. All that time, Jay had been embarrassed to tell his soulmate that he had been born on the Isle of the Lost. Jay cursed himself. So once again he called out Jordan’s name, apologized to his mother, and ran to the place where the young genie preferred to be. In her lamp. And Jay forgot all discretion and waved the lamp like never until a purple cloud appeared and from him, and a very annoyed girl looked at him.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t appear you in the belly of a dragon!”

And once again he showed her his arm.

“Oh...”

“So, can you appear me in a place, right?” Jay asked.

“Now?” Jordan hesitated “Yes...?”

“And appear me with a person?” Jay insisted, taking Jordan’s arm to pick up some things and throw them in a bag, like chocolates, clothes, money, and more chocolate.

“You don’t even know what this person looks like.”

Jay stopped and looked at her.

“Carlos de Vil.” He smiled as he finished saying his name because it felt good the way he said it ”You said destiny is complicated, but I had a soulmark that made things easy. Can’t you use it?”

Jordan looked at the words written on Jay’s arm and nodded with resignation as if understanding how important it was for Jay to appear in front of his soulmate unannounced and…

“Is this a bad idea?” He asked upon closer analysis.

“Yes, but that’s why it’s fun.” Jordan shrugged, she had the humor of a powerful and immortal being, different from human and without really measuring the consequences “So...”

“Wait! Jordan! Not!” Jay yelled suddenly aware of how intrusive all that was and that he was still wearing sleeping pants and an old shirt, not counting his messy hair “Let me-”

And Jordan widened her smile further, she was feeling his nervousness, as if that were the source of all her magic. Jay reached out to hold onto her. But a cloud enveloped him and made him disappear. For a second, Jay stepped on the gap between the real and the impossible, where anything and everything was possible. But before he could grasp a bit of that, he returned to the physical world. And at that moment, he realized four fundamental things.

First, he was in the capital of Auradon, incredibly close to the port. He could smell the sea from there, along with the rich aroma of spices from the organic market that was nearby. 

Second, Carlos had an incredibly high-pitched scream and Jay had to drop his things and cover his ears so as not to be deaf forever. 

Third, Jay wanted to hit himself for taking so long to have contact with Carlos because he now understood how soulmates worked. It wasn’t only an attraction irremediable to each other. If not, that was like being in a perpetual fall until you made real contact with your soulmate. Because Carlos de Vil was all the little details that he considered perfect. His hair reminded him of the moon when they were sailing out to sea and the moon shone like silver in the dark. His freckles were stars. That was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. Carlos’s face had every little detail that he found perfect. Eyes full of life. Soft cheekbones. Expressive nose. Thick, pink lips. Every perfect detail that Jay’s mind had said to him ‘ _This is beautiful’._ And finally, that was accumulated in one person. Even with features, Jay had never thought would be perfect. But they were. Like little ears. A wide mouth. Jay had to blink one, two, three times before he stopped looking at Carlos’s lips. Even when Carlos was screaming. 

Fourth, he had finally found a reason not to run away.

As incredible as it was, Carlos was the one who reacted first. He stopped screaming and looked at him confused. Jay raised his arm and showed Carlos his last message on his skin.

“Jay...” Carlos smiled, and it was those kinds of smiles that lit up the place.

“Do you know who I am?”

Carlos ran his fingers through his hair and raised his chin to appear indifferent or look casual. But all it accomplished was an incredibly impossible mix of beauty and appeal. Jay had had partners of all kinds. But in each one he had been searching for exactly what he was witnessing before him at that moment. That perfect mix. Carlos de Vil.

“On the Isle of the Lost, I saw you through the window every day.” Carlos shrugged and laughed nervously, “I always thought it shouldn’t be right to look at one person that much. But now I will say that it was the effects of this.” And he looked at his arm “And not something questionable.”

Jay felt his chest swell with pride and a smile formed on his lips. Carlos rolled his eyes and pushed him lightly. Unconsciously, Jay clung to Carlos’s hand on his shoulder. So, he wouldn’t let it go. Because his hand was strong despite his delicate appearance. Because Carlos had a slightly cold skin in contrast to his. Because Carlos was there, facing him, smiling at him. 

Carlos looked him in the eye and released himself, visibly nervous.

“My name-”

“Carlos de Vil.” Jay raised his hands in surrender. “I concluded it by your message. Sorry.”

“And that’s why you came...? Do you have your father’s powers or…?”

“I asked my best friend, who is a genie, to make me appear here. But not as a wish, that is disrespectful. “Jay moved his hands in the air as if holding something. “So, when I want to talk to her, I wave her lamp. I don’t rub it. Because otherwise, she would have to grant me three wishes. And Jordan doesn’t like being tied to those things. And…” He stopped. “This must not be remarkably interesting.”

“On the contrary. Since I left the island I have only lived here. Awfully close to the island.” Carlos made a discreet gesture to the place where their parents were still trapped “But Anita and Roger have been exceedingly kind to me. And, oh God, now I feel so stupid..”

“Why?” Jay looked at everything he had carried with him and wanted to clarify that he was being stupid there. A boy in pajamas and with a travel bag showing up in front of his soulmate.

“Roger always told me how he met Anita and when I had no sign of my soulmark, I thought it would be something similar, that Dude, my dog, would take me to you.” Carlos touched his hair again, as a nervous gesture “But today I didn’t go out with him and here you are.”

In response, Jay knelt on the floor and searched through his bag, among clothes and objects that he didn’t even remember keeping. Until he found what he wanted and gave it to Carlos.

“Chocolate?”

“I told you that Camelot had very good chocolate.” Jay tucked his bag over his shoulder “And… you shouldn’t feel stupid. You weren’t the one running away from _us_ for fear of not being good enough. And then, when you finally dared to speak to your soulmate, it didn’t take you long to appear in front of him.”

Carlos laughed and denied as if he were used to how impulsive Jay was and already saw it as part of his charm. And Jay hoped it was because he was seeing that his future would be full of such acts. Carlos looked at him and then at the bag Jay was carrying.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Jay smiled “I am the muscles. You can be the brain.”

Carlos laughed louder, much more relaxed. That felt good. This Carlos wasn’t the boy hidden in Cruella de Vil’s closet. This was a boy full of energy, writing all on his arm and continued with his life to the fullest.

“I am definitely the brain.” Carlos looked at him for a second longer than necessary and then pointed to the city “Do you have a place to stay?”

“Is it a proposition?” Jay joked.

“Perhaps.” Carlos winked at him and then visibly blushed “You are a terrible influence on me. We better go home before I continue to make a fool of myself in public.”

Jay stepped up next to him and put his arm around Carlos’s shoulders. Even the difference in height was perfect.

“Yes, better make a fool of yourself in private.”

“Jay!” Carlos rolled his eyes and dropped his head onto Jay’s arm. “I’m really going to start getting mad at you for how long it took you.”

“Do it, I’m already upset.” Jay closed the distance between them, thinking it would have been that way one way or the other and how good it felt to have Carlos so close “For next time, write ‘ _I have freckles and I’m cute’,_ you would have gotten an immediate reaction from me.”

“You sound like ‘ _I’m home alone and bored’_ was a line that would really work with-” Carlos shook him off seeing the amused gleam in Jay’s eyes “Well, good to know. And I’ll keep that in mind!”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.” Jay winked at him.

If Jay could talk to his father, he would tell him he was wrong. Totally wrong. Because the villain’s descendants had the best soulmates in the universe.


End file.
